ScotRail trains between Airdrie and Bathgate were suspended this morning due to a signalling fault. Replacement buses were laid on. The SPT Underground was accepting ScotRail tickets. Thousands of commuters were left scrambling for alternatives on a Monday morning. If this sounds familiar, it is because it happens with dispiriting regularity.
The Airdrie to Bathgate Problem
The Airdrie to Bathgate line reopened in 2010 after a £300 million investment. It was supposed to transform connectivity between Glasgow and Edinburgh, providing a fast, reliable rail link through the central belt. Sixteen years later, commuters on this route have learned not to make promises they cannot keep on Monday mornings.
Signalling faults are a particular frustration because they feel preventable. This is not a bridge collapse or a landslide. This is electronic infrastructure failing to do its job, and when it fails on a line that carries thousands of commuters between Scotland’s two largest cities, the knock on effects are enormous.
The Replacement Bus Reality
Anyone who has ever taken a replacement bus service knows the experience. You stand in a car park. You wait. A bus arrives that was designed for urban routes, not cross country commutes. You sit in traffic for an hour longer than the train would have taken. You arrive at work late, frustrated, and already planning to drive tomorrow.
The SPT Underground accepting ScotRail tickets is a welcome gesture for those in Glasgow, but it does nothing for commuters in Livingston, Armadale, or Bathgate who simply need to get to work. These are not people with alternatives. Many of them chose to live where they live because the railway was supposed to be reliable.
What Nationalisation Was Supposed to Fix
When ScotRail came under public ownership, the promise was improved reliability and accountability. There would be no more blaming private operators. The Scottish Government would be directly responsible for the service. That was the theory. The reality is that signalling faults, cancellations, and replacement buses continue at roughly the same rate as before.
I do not blame the drivers or the station staff. I blame a system that has underinvested in maintenance for decades and now expects ageing infrastructure to perform miracles. Scotland deserves a railway that works on Monday mornings. That should not be a controversial demand.
